Pages

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Greetings: As Expressed in Apatani

There are no direct greeting words in Apatani such as ‘Good morning’, ‘Good evening’ and so on. Greetings are expressed indirectly by asking questions. Let’s get familiar with such expressions in Apatani:

1. You are going somewhere and saw a people/ group of people (sitting, standing, working etc.) on your way, and you are first to greet him/ her/ them, then you may ask-

Q (i):Knii miidu? What are you doing?

A:Ene dasu da. Noh inpa? Nothing. Just standing. Where are you going?

-OR:Ene dusu du. Noh hokii? Nothing. Just sitting. Where are you from?

-OR:Narun miilyan du. Noh inte he? Putting the fences in order. Where have you been?

-OR:Balu miidu. Bazaar hokii ha? Working in garden. From market?

Q (ii):Dasu da ha? You are there (not gone anywhere)?

A:IIn. Noh inpa? Yes. Where are you going?

2.You are sitting, standing, working etc. and you saw someone going past (heading away from his/ her house); you may ask-

Q :Noh inpa? Where are you going?

A:Bazaar linchi. Nunu knii miidu? Going out to the market. What are you (group of three or more people) doing?

6.You are in a shop and someone familiar to you enter the shop as well, you may greet him/ her with this question- Alyi ha?

7.You enter a shop and you saw someone familiar to you already there buying things, you may ask the following questions-

Q (i)Adu ha? or Ado ha?or Nunu adu ha? or Niinyi adu ha?

Q (ii)Ado lo? or Nunu ado lo? or Niinyi adolo?

Q (iii) Bazaar miido ha? or Bazaar miidu ha?

8.You are talking on telephone, apart from ‘hello’ you start talking with one of these questions- Aya siido lo?/ Aya dusu dulo? / Knii miidu?

Disclaimer: The content in this post and other posts in my blog space are purely based on my observation and understanding of the Tanii language, difference in views from other authors and their works that one may come across in this post and in the other posts of the blog shall by no means be misconstrued as an act of discredit to any author and their works. Besides, I employ common-place Apatani for spelling things in the blog so readers discretion are sought. Readers are encouraged to follow spelling patterns used in Apatani Dictionary by Habung Donyi.

hi pbregarding 'po' and 'ha' as question markers, i find a very slight difference in meanings, for example-1. Tapu school inne ha? has Tapu gone to school? [here speaker is not aware whether Tapu has gone or not]2. Tapu school inne po? Ngo mo mi inlya hiito niin. has Tapu gone to school?(OR Tapu has gone to school, hasn't he?) i told him not to go.[here speaker is aware that Tapu has gone to school]

I agree that word like 'ene' is a borrowed word from assamese that has been Apatanised and so as the words like 'pira', 'mura' whose equivalent word may be 'duting' or 'dutingnanii'. I don't know how many us know 'sati' (umbrella) in Apatani? My answer for equivalent meaning of 'sati' in Apatani is 'asse', which is known so far.